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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083735">A Cactus and a Wildflower</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninetyfive/pseuds/ninetyfive'>ninetyfive</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Asexual Character, Coming Out, F/F, Implied Sexual Content</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-24</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 03:21:42</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,352</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26083735</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/ninetyfive/pseuds/ninetyfive</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Hazel finds out that the way how Daisy loves Amina is as unique as Daisy herself.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Amina El Maghrabi/Daisy Wells</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>21</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Cactus and a Wildflower</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>In this story, Daisy realises she is asexual, which means she does not experience sexual attraction. In other words, Daisy does fancy people, but she does not necessarily want to do very grown-up things with them. It is estimated that 1% of the Earth’s population are asexual. I think that if Daisy knew about this, she would feel even more like a Queen than she already does. </p>
<p>In the story, which is written from Hazel's POV, the girls are in their last year at Deepdean.</p>
<p>The title comes from a line in Mackenzi Lee’s “The Lady's Guide to Petticoats and Piracy”.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>I knew from the way Daisy was acting that something was bothering her, but I also knew I could not ask her about it. Daisy Wells does not like being asked about her feelings. She spent the next two days being in a terrible mood and directing all her anger at poor lost shrimps in the corridors (which I thought was very unfair, because shrimps can’t help it that they get lost easily. I really thought it was quite mean when Daisy got angry at a tiny shrimp for bumping into her.)</p>
<p>Thankfully for me and all the shrimps, Daisy eventually confessed what was on her mind without anyone having to ask her. We were enjoying a rare moment off in the shade of a tree in the school grounds: me reading a detective story (Daisy claimed she already knew who had committed the murder even though she had only looked at the title), and Daisy herself staring hard at the sky. A crinkle had appeared in the bridge of her nose as though she’d been staring at the clouds too hard.</p>
<p>‘Hazel. You’re probably wondering why I’ve not been my usual remarkable self this week,’ Daisy said matter-of-factly. I put away my book, but I said nothing. Whatever I asked or said would only give Daisy reason to shut up again like a clam. She hates having her feeling pointed out to her. ‘The truth is, I went to see Amina in her dorm four days ago. This happened at night, of course.’</p>
<p>I felt a little flutter of victory. I had a feeling Daisy had left our dorm that night (Daisy has gotten very tall, which means she can no longer quietly tiptoe out of bed), but I’d been so tired that I fell asleep again before I could ask her where she was going.</p>
<p>‘What did you do?’ I asked, even though I had a feeling I knew the answer already. We were older now, almost grown-up (our mistresses often liked to remind us of this fact, as though we have large ticking clocks chained to our legs), and older girls who like other girls tend not to leave their dorms to have a midnight feast.</p>
<p>Judging by the look Daisy gave me, her reason for meeting Amina was indeed the grown-up sort. ‘Meeting Amina was splendid, Hazel, but then – oh, I don’t know! It all got very serious and grown-up all of a sudden, and I’m not sure if I actually enjoyed it. I rather hated it, actually – although I’m sure<em> I</em> was quite good at the act, of course. And so was Amina, I suppose. She was lovely, of course, but then again I do have quite good taste in people. I soon realised, however, that the <em>act</em> didn’t really leave me feeling breathless – or as if I had just done the best ever thing, which I’m sure is the whole reason why grown-ups do it in the first place. It left me feeling – oh, I’m not sure. I suppose the right word is “numb”. Yes, I think that’s the best word for it.’</p>
<p>I couldn’t help it, but I’d started to blush. I felt like I had accidentally found one of our mistresses’ romance novels in an empty classroom. I can still feel my skin prickle thinking about it now. ‘What are you saying, Daisy?’</p>
<p>‘I’m saying that I don’t think I’m meant for a life spent in other people’s rooms!’ Daisy shook her head as if to clear it. ‘It’s simply too inconvenient, Hazel. Think of the time it takes! What if someone commits a murder right under my nose, and I cannot immediately start my investigation because I will be too busy trying to redress? I shan’t do it, Hazel. I don’t understand why anyone would want it, for that matter.’</p>
<p><em>I do</em>, I thought, thinking of Alexander and our letters (Alexander’s writing had become more and more daring), but I didn’t want to upset her. I wasn’t sure if this was the type of things people get upset about (what Daisy was saying sounded to me as natural as my not enjoying certain bland English foods that other people loved), but I kept my thoughts to myself all the same. ‘Does Amina know?’</p>
<p>‘No. Not exactly. I ran away after the act, of course. It was all very dramatic.’</p>
<p>‘Daisy!’</p>
<p>‘You know I don’t like talking about my innermost feelings.’</p>
<p>‘But it’s Amina! She’s your –’ The word caught in my throat. I wasn’t sure what Amina and Daisy were to each other. It seemed to me like there were more words to describe my relationship with Alexander than there were for relationships like Amina’s and Daisy’s. I thought it was quite unfair. ‘You like her. You should tell her.’</p>
<p>I could tell Daisy didn’t like the idea, but I also had a feeling that she knew she didn’t have any choice in the matter. Amina wasn’t a case she could solve, or a piece of evidence she could investigate – just as Daisy herself wasn’t a case she could solve either. I’m sure her night with Amina made Daisy think that she needed fixing, or solving, or a special “something” to put her back together, but the truth was that this was just how Daisy was.</p>
<p>‘What if she doesn’t feel the same?’ said Daisy, in a rare glimpse of her sharing her innermost feelings after all. ‘What if I’ll upset her by telling her that I probably won’t ever feel the need to . . .’ She left the word hanging in the air, but I could tell by the two pink spots that had appeared on her cheeks that she was thinking about something grown-up. ‘Oh, I hate being this age, don’t you, Hazel? It’s so – so complicated! I wish I me and Amina could just leave Deepdean already and occasionally kiss and embrace and solve many very gory murders together. Wouldn’t that be much better than constantly undressing each other?’</p>
<p>I smiled at that. I couldn’t see the appeal of what Daisy was suggesting myself (I was thinking about Alexander again here, and his letters that I was glad other people couldn’t read), but I had met enough people during our many adventures to know that love existed in many different ways. Daisy’s was just one of many. It didn’t seem strange to me in the slightest.</p>
<p>‘Do you think this makes me – oh, I don’t know the word for it.’ I could hear Daisy struggling for words for perhaps the first time ever. ‘Do you think this makes me a cactus?’</p>
<p>‘A cactus?’</p>
<p>‘Yes. As in, quite difficult to touch. Prickly.’</p>
<p>‘I don’t think so,’ I said, and I felt that I meant it. ‘You’re just you, Daisy. There’s nothing wrong with you, and I don’t think Amina will think there’s anything wrong with you either. Just tell her, and you’ll see.’</p>
<p>At that moment Amina herself showed up, her long glossy hair blowing in the wind, looking as pretty as I had ever seen her. She was watching us from the other side of the school grounds, and I could already tell by the way she was looking at Daisy that she was not angry in the slightest.</p>
<p>I pretended to have a meeting with Beanie in the library and left so Daisy could talk to Amina alone. (Daisy acted like this was “treachery”, but I knew she was grateful.)</p>
<p>When Daisy returned to our dorm again that night, late, very late, she told me that she and Amina had had a very good talk and that they’d spent all night embracing in their secret meeting place (Daisy has made me swear not to mention the location in here), and doing nothing else. Amina had not minded that Daisy prefers a gentler kind of love and that she gets all her grown-up excitement and heart-stopping moments from detecting.</p>
<p>Daisy returned to being her usual unbothered self, and she didn’t even get angry when another shrimp bumped into her in the corridors one morning. The only person she had eyes for was Amina. </p>
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